This $10,000 tiny home can be built with a single tool in less than a day

This $10,000 tiny home can be built with a single tool in less than a day

Homes can be expensive in Beijing, China.

A design firm in the area, called People's Architecture Office (PAO), heard from a woman who was struggling to afford a home, and had taken to living in a small, dilapidated house in the courtyard of her parents' residence outside the city.

Fed up with the poor conditions, Mrs. Fan (who declined to give her full name for privacy reasons), commissioned PAO to build her a new home.

The architects designed what they call a Plug-in House for her in December 2016.

With just $10,000 worth of materials and a hex wrench, a construction team can build the Plug-in House in less than 24 hours, PAO's principal, James Shen, told Business Insider in March. The firm based the design on a similar one it used to create a renovation system that consists of locking pre-fabricated panels.

In July 2017, the Plug-in House made the shortlist for the World Architecture Festival's World Building of the Year award. The winner will be named at the festival in Berlin in November.